Search

This white robin appeared in my friend Curtis Haynes's yard two days after his mom passed away this winter. The beautiful rare bird has been hanging out every day with the other robins in the area. My dad and I enjoy making environmental portraits of animals.

Getting flying objects sharp and in focus while photographing with large telephoto lenses takes a lot of practice. For years, I would be presented with beautiful moments and would somehow mess up the exposure or focus, and the bigger the lenses, the more mistakes I would make. Today, I got "lucky" with these mallards and my practice is paying off.

A doe in my backyard. Nikon D850. F6.3 at 1/200, ISO 3200. 60-600mm lens at 600mm. On a tripod without a flash. January 11, 2020 at 1:07pm.

Legends Ranch

Almost every day for two weeks in May I hiked the Island Trail at Ludington State Park, hoping to see newborn swan cygnets appear in this nest. I had envisioned making a photograph with several cygnets and one or both parents for this book. Instead of the picture I had pre-visualized, I was finally rewarded on May 17 with a simpler, more unique shot. A lone first-hatched cygnet crawled out of the nest and waddled precariously around the top edge until coming face to face with its mother. I tripped the shutter at the instant world-famous French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson liked to call "the decisive moment."

A Canada goose keeps a watchful eye out as she escorts her goslings along a bank of the Sable River at Ludington State Park. I love seeing all the new life of spring in the Michigan outdoors.

As I was photographing a snowy owl, I heard the loud honking of a flock of Canada geese heading my way. The golden afternoon light combined with the dark blue January sky was the perfect backdrop for this large bird as it flew overhead.

For seven years, I have been trying to make this image of an albino squirrel that lives at my Papa Bill and Nana Bev's house near Hamlin Grocery north of Ludington. On Christmas Eve, it finally all came together. As I was making this image, I was trying to ignore my older brother Tad as he shot me with the dart gun that he got for Christmas. Some things never change!

It's comical to watch geese trying to walk on land, especially when they are only a few days old. This particular group of goslings seemed to be quite fond of the game leapfrog. As they passed by my camera, they clumsily hopped over each other while trying to keep up with the rest of the family.

While my aunt Sheryl was vacuuming her living room, she looked through the large picture window and noticed a fawn sleeping peacefully in her pachysandra bushes right next to the house. She immediately called my dad and me and we rushed over with our cameras. I put my lens right on the glass of the window and made this image. I love the heart shape of the bushes that surrounds the beautiful sleeping fawn.

A hummingbird takes aim at another wild iris bloom along a trail in the Ludington State Park. Fortunately for me, the bird was attracted to the same flowers I had already discovered.

A male mallard duck at the entrance of the Middle Bayou on Hamlin Lake. Nikon D850. F6.3 at 1/250, ISO 800. 60-600mm lens at 600mm. On a tripod without a flash. January 13, 2020 at 4:22pm.

After a two-mile hike in the hot August sun, I walked back to my truck with my head down, disappointed that I hadn't made any good pictures. I was pleasantly surprised to find this caterpillar 10 yards from my truck. I quickly put my macro lens on my camera and got down on my hands and knees to make this photograph.

A black squirrel in my backyard. Nikon D850. F6.3 at 1/160, ISO 3200. 60-600mm lens at 600mm. On a tripod without a flash. January 14, 2020 at 9:30am.

While searching for piping plovers that abandoned their protected nesting site in the sand dunes north of Big Sable Point, I observe this delicate Halloween pennant dragonfly land near a pond tucked between dunes. I stealth closer, then photograph it with a telephoto lens. Thus I avoid scaring the dragonfly away and keep the background out of focus to simplify the picture and make the small insect stand out.

I love macro photography because it allows me to journey into new worlds where the details of subjects create a completely new visual experience. Living near Lake Michigan, I had seen thousands of these sometimes pesky Asian lady beetles. I had no idea they wore such a determined look on their faces until I got down in their world with my macro lens.

Two decent size bucks and a third giant buck hanging out at the Ludington State Park. Nikon D850. F6.3 at 1/400, ISO 6400. 60-600mm lens at 500mm. On a tripod without a flash. January 15, 2020 at 5:11pm.

Swans Over Ludington

365 Week

I have photographed mute swans hundreds of times and now try to look for peak moments that will produce more original and interesting pictures. This proud swan rose up as I was observing it on the Sauble River at Ludington State Park.